Bring on the screams: 5 MTV VMA boy band moments

Chris Talbott AP Music Writer

Posted:
08/21/2014 05:57:08 AM MDT

Click photo to enlarge

FILE - In this July 22, 2014 file photo, 5 Seconds of Summer band members, from left, Luke Hemmings, Ashton Irwin, Michael Clifford and Calum Hood appear on NBC's "Today" show in New York. 5 Seconds of Summer will make its debut at the MTV Video Music Awards, MTV's annual over-the-top celebration of pop music, on Sunday, Aug. 24. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)

Get ready for another potential OMG boy band moment: 5 Seconds of Summer is about to make its debut on the MTV Video Music Awards.

The Australian pop-punk-loving quartet of tousle-haired hunks (whose members don't consider themselves a boy band) will make its debut Sunday on MTV's over-the-top annual celebration. Boy bands have a long history of VMAs hysteria and much-hyped appearances (think 'N Sync and its 2013 reunion rumors). 5SOS rides the release of a hit album and an opening gig on One Direction's stadium tour into its appearance at the Forum in Inglewood, California.

Here's a look back at five key moments in boy band-VMA history, in chronological order:

— New New Edition: There were plenty of bands with good lookin' boys on the VMAs in the early years, but the first official boy band appearance didn't come until New Edition's epic 1990 reunion on the show. Covering six songs and more than 10 minutes, Bel Biv DeVoe (which included three of New Edition's original members), Bobby Brown, Johnny Gill and Ralph Tresvant all performed separately before coming together in a reunion performance — complete with mirrorball suit coats, bowler caps and a confusing array of hairstyles — to celebrate the 12th anniversary of the group's founding.

Advertisement

— Bigtime Boys: Sure, looking back it's a head-scratcher, but the Backstreet Boys used to be the biggest boy band in the world. Look no further than the band's run of VMA appearances at the turn of the century. Appearing for the first time in 1998, BSB flexed its muscle-shirted muscle by taking best group video over ... Radiohead? ... and performed the instantly recognizable hit "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)."

— 'N Sync 'n' Britney: 'N Sync arrived a year after BSB in 1999 and immediately played a trump card: Britney Spears. The future megastars teamed up for a medley of "... One More Time" and "Tearin' Up My Heart." With a production design that evoked after-school detention, it was not either baby-faced act's greatest moment on the awards.

— Ringing up the Jonases: Not every trip to the VMAs comes up moonmen for boy bands. The super-wholesome Jonas Brothers showed up in 2008 to play "Lovebug" and got roughed up by Russell Brand. Making fun of boy bands on the VMAs is a little like shooting fish in a barrel — and every host does it. Brand showed up with a shotgun when he took out the boys for their promise rings and abstinence vows. It got worse when Brand's future wife, Katy Perry, turned her version of Madonna's "Like a Virgin" into a "Like a Jonas."

— Poor Harry: And then there was One Direction's reception in 2013. The British group was booed by fans while accepting an award and the always-tousled Harry Styles became the apparent target of Taylor Swift's ire. Swift took home a trophy for her "I Knew You Were Trouble" video and said, "I also want to thank the person who inspired this song — who knows exactly who he is — because now I've got one of these." Cameras cut to Styles.

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — The death of actor Leonard Nimoy last week has inspired people to post photos on social media of marked-up five-dollar Canadian banknotes that show former prime minister Wilfrid Laurier transformed to resemble Spock, Nimoy's famous "Star Trek" character. Full Story